Prevent Your Awnings from Becoming a Hazard

13 Oct Prevent Your Awnings from Becoming a Hazard

Decorative and functional awnings have been used on homes and businesses for centuries. These coverings provide shade over windows and doors, helping to lower utility costs and extends the amount of functional space outside of your home or commercial property. Like any other element of your property, awnings need to be cared for. If they are not properly maintained, it’s possible for them to become ruined, or worse, cause structural damage to the building that they are attached to. If you have awnings, be sure to consider these two factors to keep them in the best shape possible.

1) Sun Damage

Heat from the sun can also cause a lot of wear on awnings. Besides obvious issues with fading, extreme heat can damage materials such as fabric, plastic and wood. Fasteners used to attach these awnings to a structure can also be degraded over time, eventually causing the awnings to become loose and fall off of the building.

To avoid problems like this, check the structure of your awnings for obvious signs of damage. Loose awnings should be cause to call a contractor to repair or replace the awning immediately.

2) Rainwater and Snow Buildup

Over time, fabric awnings can stretch, allowing them to collect pools of water. Permanent wood or plastic composite awnings can also allow snow and water to collect, adding a lot more weight to these pieces of your building’s structure. If the water or snow is not removed, the added weight can put a lot of added strain on the awning, eventually causing it to collapse. In extreme cases, this not only damages the awning, but it can also cause a partial collapse of the building the awning was attached to.

In smaller amounts, rainwater can cause wood and fabric to degrade. This leads to these materials rotting, forcing the building owner to pay to have them replaced.

To avoid this issue, visually inspect your building’s awnings and remove snow buildup as soon as possible. If you see signs of rainwater collecting in large amounts, call a contractor to have the awnings repaired or replaced before the damage becomes worse.

By paying attention to these two signs, you can avoid big problems (and maintenance bills) down the road.